How many planets in the Solar System have rings? | Cool Cosmos How many planets in the Solar System have rings? Four the planets in the Solar System have rings. They are the four giant gas planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Saturn, which has by far the largest ring system, was known to have rings for a long time. It was not until the 1970s that rings were discovered around the other gas planets. The rings around Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune are much smaller, darker, and fainter than the rings of Saturn. Rings around gas giants are thought to be transient over the the lifetime of the planetary system. That is, if we had lived at a very different time, perhaps we would not see big rings around Saturn, but another one of the gas giants. Continue the conversation on Which Planets Have Rings? - Universe Today Universe Today by Matt Williams Planetary rings are an interesting phenomena. The mere mention of these two words tends to conjure up images of Saturn, with its large and colorful system of rings that form an orbiting disk. But in fact, several other planets in our Solar System have rings.

It’s just that, unlike Saturn, their systems are less visible, and perhaps less beautiful to behold. Thanks to exploration efforts mounted in the past few decades, which have seen space probes dispatched to the outer Solar System, we have come to understand that all the gas giants – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune – all have their own ring systems. And that’s not all! In fact, ring systems may be more common than previously thought… Jupiter’s Rings: In was not until 1979 that the rings of Jupiter were discovered when the Voyager 1 space probe conducted a flyby of the planet. They were also thoroughly investigated in the 1990s by the Galileo orbiter. Because it is composed mainly of dust, the ring system is faint and can only be observed by the most powerful telescopes, or up-close by orbital spacecraft. However, during the past twenty-three years, it has been observed from Earth numerous times, as well as by the Hubble Space Telescope . A schema of Jupiter’s ring system showing the four main components.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell University The ring system has four main components: a thick inner torus of particles known as the “halo ring”; a relatively bright, but extremely thin “main ring”; and two wide, thick, and faint outer “gossamer rings”. These outer rings are composed of material from the moons Amalthea and Thebe and are named after these moons (i.e. the “Amalthea Ring” and “Thebe Ring”). The main and halo rings consist of dust ejected from the moons Metis, Adrastea, and other unobserved parent bodies as the result of high-velocity impacts. Scientists believe that a ring could even exist around the moon of Himalia’s orbit, which could have been created when another small moon crashed into it and caused material to be ejected from the surface. Saturn’s Rings: The rings of Saturn , meanwhile, have been known for centuries. Although Galileo Galilei became the first person to observe the rings of Saturn in 1610, he did not have a powerful enough telescope to discern their true nature.

It was not until 1655 that Christiaan Huygens, the Dutch mathematician and scientist, became the first person to describe them as a disk surrounding the planet. Subsequent observations, which included spectroscopic studies by the late 19th century, confirmed that they are composed of smaller rings, each one made up of tiny particles orbiting Saturn. These particles range in size from micrometers to meters that form clumps orbiting the planet, and which are composed almost entirely of water ice contaminated with dust and chemicals. Saturn and its rings, as seen from above the planet by the Cassini spacecraft. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute/Gordan Ugarkovic In total, Saturn has a system of 12 rings with 2 divisions. It has the most extensive ring system of any planet in our solar system. The rings have numerous gaps where particle density drops sharply. In some cases, this due to Saturn’s Moons being embedded within them, which causes destabilizing orbital resonances to occur. However, within the Titan Ringlet and the G Ring, orbital resonance with Saturn’s moons has a stabilizing influence.

Well beyond the main rings is the Phoebe ring, which is tilted at an angle of 27 degrees to the other rings and, like Phoebe, orbits in retrograde fashion. Uranus’ Rings: The rings of Uranus are thought to be relatively young, at not more than 600 million years old. They are believed to have originated from the collisional fragmentation of a number of moons that once existed around the planet. After colliding, the moons probably broke up into numerous particles, which survived as narrow and optically dense rings only in strictly confined zones of maximum stability. Uranus has 13 rings that have been observed so far. They are all very faint, the majority being opaque and only a few kilometers wide. The ring system consists mostly of large bodies 0.2 to 20 m in diameter. A few rings are optically thin and are made of small dust particles which makes them difficult to observe using Earth-based telescopes. The labeled ring arcs of Neptune as seen in newly processed data. Credit: M.

Showalter/SETI Institute Neptune’s Rings: The rings of Neptune were not discovered until 1989 until the Voyager 2 space probe conducted a flyby of the planet. Six rings have been observed in the system, which are best described as faint and tenuous. The rings are very dark, and are likely composed by organic compounds processed by radiation, similar to that found in the rings of Uranus. Much like Uranus, and Saturn, four of Neptune’s moons orbit within the ring system. Other Bodies: Back in 2008, it was suggested that the magnetic effects around the Saturnian moon of Rhea may indicate that it has its own ring system. However, a subsequent study indicated that observations obtained the Cassini mission suggested that some other mechanism was responsible for the magnetic effects. Years before the the New Horizons probe visited the system, astronomers speculated that Pluto might also have a ring system . However, after conducting its historic flyby of the system in July of 2015, the New Horizons probe did not find any evidence of a ring system. While the dwarf planet had many satellites aside from its largest ( Charon ), debris from around the planet has not coalesced into rings, as was theorized.

Artist’s impression of the New Horizons spacecraft in orbit around Pluto (Charon is seen in the background). Credit: NASA/JPL The minor planet of Chariklo – an asteroid that orbits the Sun between Saturn and Uranus – also has two rings that orbit it. These are perhaps due to a collision that caused a chain of debris to form in orbit around it. The announcement of these rings was made on March 26th of 2014, and was based on observations made during a stellar occultation on June 3rd, 2013. This was followed by findings made in 2015 that indicated that 2006 Chiron – another major Centaur – could have a ring of its own. This led to further speculation that there might be many minor planets in our Solar System that have a system of rings. In short, four planets in our Solar System have intricate ring systems, as well as the minor planet Chariklo, and perhaps even many other smaller objects. In this sense, ring systems appear to be a lot more common in our Solar System than previously thought. We have written many articles about planets with rings for Universe Today.

Here’s an article about the composition of Saturn’s rings , and here’s an article about the planets with rings . If you’d like more info on the planets, check out NASA’s Solar System exploration page , and here’s a link to NASA’s Solar System Simulator . We’ve also recorded a series of episodes of Astronomy Cast about every planet in the Solar System. Start here, Episode 49: Mercury . Share this: Moons in Solar System Could Form From Saturn-Like Rings Start Over | More Quizzes These rings would not have been limited to the gas giants. The simulations indicate that Earth could have hosted a ring containing 2.5 percent of its mass. Even Pluto may have gotten in on the action; a ring just under a fifth of the dwarf planet's mass could have created its moon, Charon. The rings could have formed in a variety of ways. A large body crashing into the young planet could have resulted in a significant amount of debris left orbiting the planet. Such might be the case for Earth , where scientists already think that a large body colliding with the planet early in its life may have ejected material that went on to create the moon .

Crida points out that this is in line with the model he and Charnoz propose. Instead of the material immediately coalescing into a satellite, however, he suggests that a ring could have come first. [ How the Moon Evolved: A Video Tour ] "People didn't question how this material will form the moon," he told SPACE.com by email. "Our model describes the spreading of the ring created by the impact, and the formation of the moon." Scientists already suspect Saturn's gravity tore apart a massive body traveling near the young planet, and Uranus and Neptune shredded passing comets. The wanton destruction could have resulted in more rings more massive than today's. The research was published today (Nov. 29) in the online version of the journal Science. Sketch of the satellite systems of the four giant planets. The sizes and distances of the satellites are proportionnal to the logarithm of their masses and distance to the planet's center, respectively. An accumulation of small bodies appears just outside the Roche limit, and the increase of mass with the distance to the Roche limit is clearly visible for Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. This suggests that these satellites formed from the spreading of ancient massive rings beyond the planet's Roche limit.

Credit: Frederic Durillon/animea Feeding frenzy According to the new model, the rings of rock and dust around the planet would slowly travel outward. Close to the planet, the pull of gravity would keep the material from pulling together into a larger body. At a critical distance known as the Roche limit, the gravity between the bits of dust and rock becomes more powerful than the gravity exerted by the planet. It is here that the moons begin to form. The first moon would have clumped together at the edge of the Roche limit, pulling in pieces of rock and dust as it spirals away from the planet. Another small body might form, but the more massive moon would consume it. "The edge of the rings is the moon's feeding zone," Crida said. "When the moon migrates away so far that the outer edge of the rings is not in its feeding zone anymore, a new moon forms at the Roche limit." Artist's view of Uranus with rings, giving birth to its satellite system. Credit: Frederic Durillon/animea Exceptions to the rule Crida noted that not all of the moons in the solar system fit in with the new model.

Iapetus and Titan, the massive moons of Saturn, could have formed in the gas disk around the young planet. After a few million years, the gas would have dissipated, leaving the rings to form the remaining smaller moons. The planet Jupiter is another exception to the model. In Jupiter's alignment of satellites , the moons do not grow smaller the farther they are from the planet. "It is not absurd to consider that they formed via another process," Crida said. "Maybe Jupiter never had rings." He notes that the most massive planet in the solar system was also the first to cut a path through the disk of gas orbiting the sun and to boast its own disk. These unique points may have allowed the moons to form within the gas around the giant planet. Earth's moon likely formed from an impact in the early solar system. "But all giant impacts don't give birth to rings," Crida said. "Maybe this never happened at Venus and Mercury." Follow SPACE.com on Twitter @Spacedotcom . We're also on Facebook & Google+ .

Editor's Recommendations Solar System Planets: Order of the 8 (or 9) Planets Solar System Planets: Order of the 8 (or 9) Planets By Robert Roy Britt | January 22, 2016 12:35pm ET MORE The planets of the solar system as depicted by a NASA computer illustration. Orbits and sizes are not shown to scale. Credit: NASA Ever since the discovery of Pluto in 1930, kids grew up learning about the nine planets of our solar system. That all changed starting in the late 1990s, when astronomers began to argue about whether Pluto was a planet. In a highly controversial decision , the International Astronomical Union ultimately decided in 2006 to call Pluto a “dwarf planet,” reducing the list of “real planets” in our solar system to eight. However, astronomers are now hunting for another planet in our solar system, a true ninth planet , after evidence of its existence was unveiled on Jan. 20, 2016.

The so-called "Planet Nine," as scientists are calling it, is about 10 times the mass of Earth and 5,000 times the mass of Pluto. [ Solar System Pictures: A Photo Tour ] If you insist on including Pluto , then that world would come after Neptune on the list; Pluto is truly way out there, and on a wildly tilted, elliptical orbit (two of the several reasons it got demoted). Interestingly, Pluto used to be the eighth planet, actually. More on that below. Terrestrial planets The inner four worlds are called “ terrestrial planets ,” because, like Earth, their surfaces are all rocky. Pluto, too, has a solid surface (and a very frozen one) but has never been grouped with the four terrestrials. Jovian planets The four large outer worlds — Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune — are known as the “Jovian planets” (meaning “Jupiter-like”) because they are all huge compared to the terrestrial planets, and because they are gaseous in nature rather than having rocky surfaces (though some or all of them may have solid cores, astronomers say).

According to NASA , "two of the outer planets beyond the orbit of Mars — Jupiter and Saturn — are known as gas giants; the more distant Uranus and Neptune are called ice giants." This is because, while the first two are dominated by gas, while the last two have more ice. All four contain mostly hydrogen and helium. Dwarf planets The IAU definition of a full-fledged planet goes like this: A body that circles the sun without being some other object's satellite, is large enough to be rounded by its own gravity (but not so big that it begins to undergo nuclear fusion, like a star) and has "cleared its neighborhood" of most other orbiting bodies. Yeah, that’s a mouthful. The problem for Pluto, besides its small size and offbeat orbit, is that it shares its space with lots of other objects in the Kuiper Belt , beyond Neptune. Still, the demotion of Pluto remains controversial . The IAU planet definition puts other small, round worlds in the dwarf planet category, including the Kuiper Belt objects Eris , Haumea , and Makemake . Also now a dwarf planet is Ceres , a round object in the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Ceres was actually considered a planet when discovered in 1801 and then later deemed to be an asteroid. Some astronomers like to consider Ceres as a 10th planet (not to be confused with Nibiru or Planet X ), but that line of thinking opens up the possibility of there being 13 planets, with more bound to be discovered. The planets Below is a brief overview of the eight primary planets in our solar system , in order from the inner solar system outward: Mercury The closest planet to the sun, Mercury is only a bit larger than Earth's moon. Its day side is scorched by the sun and can reach 840 degrees Fahrenheit (450 Celsius), but on the night side, temperatures drop to hundreds of degrees below freezing. Mercury has virtually no atmosphere to absorb meteor impacts, so its surface is pockmarked with craters, just like the moon. Over its four-year mission, NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft has revealed views of the planet that have challenged astronomers' expectations.

Discovery: Known to the ancients and visible to the naked eye Named for: Messenger of the Roman gods Diameter: 3,031 miles (4,878 km) Orbit: 88 Earth days Venus' southern hemisphere, as seen in the ultraviolet. Credit: ESA Venus The second planet from the sun, Venus is terribly hot, even hotter than Mercury. The atmosphere is toxic. The pressure at the surface would crush and kill you. Scientists describe Venus’ situation as a runaway greenhouse effect. Its size and structure are similar to Earth, Venus' thick, toxic atmosphere traps heat in a runaway "greenhouse effect." Oddly, Venus spins slowly in the opposite direction of most planets. The Greeks believed Venus was two different objects — one in the morning sky and another in the evening. Because it is often brighter than any other object in the sky — except for the sun and moon — Venus has generated many UFO reports.

Discovery: Known to the ancients and visible to the naked eye Named for: Roman goddess of love and beauty Diameter: 7,521 miles (12,104 km) Orbit: 225 Earth days An image of the Earth taken by the Russian weather satellite Elektro-L No.1. Credit: NTsOMZ Earth The third planet from the sun, Earth is a waterworld, with two-thirds of the planet covered by ocean. It’s the only world known to harbor life. Earth’s atmosphere is rich in life-sustaining nitrogen and oxygen. Earth's surface rotates about its axis at 1,532 feet per second (467 meters per second) — slightly more than 1,000 mph (1,600 kph) — at the equator. The planet zips around the sun at more than 18 miles per second (29 km per second).

Diameter: 7,926 miles (12,760 km) Orbit: 365.24 days Day: 23 hours, 56 minutes Related: Mars researchers are focusing both Earth-based and planet orbiting sensors to better understand sources of methane on the red planet. Image Credit: Space Telescope Science Institute Mars The fourth planet from the sun, is a cold, dusty place. The dust, an iron oxide, gives the planet its reddish cast. Mars shares similarities with Earth: It is rocky, has mountains and valleys, and storm systems ranging from localized tornado-like dust devils to planet-engulfing dust storms. It snows on Mars. And Mars harbors water ice. Scientists think it was once wet and warm, though today it’s cold and desert-like. Mars' atmosphere is too thin for liquid water to exist on the surface for any length of time. Scientists think ancient Mars would have had the conditions to support life, and there is hope that signs of past life — possibly even present biology — may exist on the Red Planet.

Discovery: Known to the ancients and visible to the naked eye Named for: Roman god of war Diameter: 4,217 miles (6,787 km) Orbit: 687 Earth days Day: Just more than one Earth day (24 hours, 37 minutes) Related: Close-up of Jupiter's Great Red Spot as seen by a Voyager spacecraft. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Jupiter The fifth planet from the sun, Jupiter is huge and is the most massive planet in our solar system. It’s a mostly gaseous world, mostly hydrogen and helium. Its swirling clouds are colorful due to different types of trace gases. A big feature is the Great Red Spot, a giant storm which has raged for hundreds of years. Jupiter has a strong magnetic field, and with dozens of moons, it looks a bit like a miniature solar system.

Discovery: Known to the ancients and visible to the naked eye Named for: Ruler of the Roman gods Diameter: 86,881 miles (139,822 km) Orbit: 11.9 Earth years The shadow of Saturn's moon Mimas dips onto the planet's rings and straddles the Cassini Division in this natural color image taken as Saturn approaches its August 2009 equinox. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute Saturn The sixth planet from the sun is known most for its rings . When Galileo Galilei first studied Saturn in the early 1600s, he thought it was an object with three parts. Not knowing he was seeing a planet with rings, the stumped astronomer entered a small drawing — a symbol with one large circle and two smaller ones — in his notebook, as a noun in a sentence describing his discovery. More than 40 years later, Christiaan Huygens proposed that they were rings. The rings are made of ice and rock. Scientists are not yet sure how they formed. The gaseous planet is mostly hydrogen and helium. It has numerous moons .

Discovery: Known to the ancients and visible to the naked eye Named for: Roman god of agriculture Diameter: 74,900 miles (120,500 km) Orbit: 29.5 Earth years Day: About 10.5 Earth hours Related: Near-infrared views of Uranus reveal its otherwise faint ring system, highlighting the extent to which the planet is tilted. Credit: Lawrence Sromovsky, (Univ. Wisconsin-Madison), Keck Observatory Uranus The seventh planet from the sun, Uranus is an oddball. It’s the only giant planet whose equator is nearly at right angles to its orbit — it basically orbits on its side. Astronomers think the planet collided with some other planet-size object long ago, causing the tilt. The tilt causes extreme seasons that last 20-plus years, and the sun beats down on one pole or the other for 84 Earth-years. Uranus is about the same size as Neptune. Methane in the atmosphere gives Uranus its blue-green tint. It has numerous moons and faint rings.

Discovery: 1781 by William Herschel (was thought previously to be a star) Named for: Personification of heaven in ancient myth Diameter: 31,763 miles (51,120 km) Orbit: 84 Earth years Neptune’s winds travel at more than 1,500 mph, and are the fastest planetary winds in the solar system. Credit: NASA/JPL Neptune The eighth planet from the sun, Neptune is known for strong winds — sometimes faster than the speed of sound. Neptune is far out and cold. The planet is more than 30 times as far from the sun as Earth. It has a rocky core. Neptune was the first planet to be predicted to exist by using math, before it was detected. Irregularities in the orbit of Uranus led French astronomer Alexis Bouvard to suggest some other might be exerting a gravitational tug. German astronomer Johann Galle used calculations to help find Neptune in a telescope. Neptune is about 17 times as massive as Earth. Discovery: 1846 Pluto and its moons orbit the sun near the edge of our solar system.

Learn all about Pluto's weirdly eccentric orbit, four moons and more in this Space.com infographic . Credit: SPACE.com/Karl Tate Pluto (Dwarf Planet) Once the ninth planet from the sun, Pluto is unlike other planets in many respects. It is smaller than Earth's moon. Its orbit carries it inside the orbit of Neptune and then way out beyond that orbit. From 1979 until early 1999, Pluto had actually been the eighth planet from the sun. Then, on Feb. 11, 1999, it crossed Neptune's path and once again became the solar system's most distant planet — until it was demoted to dwarf planet status. Pluto will stay beyond Neptune for 228 years. Pluto’s orbit is tilted to the main plane of the solar system — where the other planets orbit — by 17.1 degrees. It’s a cold, rocky world with only a very ephemeral atmosphere. NASA's New Horizons mission performed history's first flyby of the Pluto system on July 14, 2015.

[Related: New Horizons' Pluto Flyby: Latest News, Images and Video ] Discovery: 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh Named for: Roman god of the underworld, Hades Diameter: 1,430 miles (2,301 km) Orbit: 248 Earth years NASA Solar System Exploration: Dwarf Planets Planet Nine Planet Nine orbits the sun at a distance that is 20 times farther out than the orbit of Neptune. (The orbit of Neptune is 2.7 billion miles from the sun at its closest point.) The strange world's orbit is about 600 times farther from the sun than the Earth's orbit is from the star. Scientists have not actually seen Planet Nine directly . Its existence was inferred by its gravitational effects on other objects in the Kuiper Belt, a region at the fringe of the solar system that is home to icy objects left over from the birth of the sun and planets. Which planets have rings? Which planets have rings? February 6, 2015 by Matt Williams, Universe Today This colorized image taken by the Cassini orbiter, shows Saturn’s A and F rings, the small moon Epimetheus and Titan, the planet’s largest moon.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute Planetary rings are an interesting phenomenon. The mere mention of these two words tends to conjure up images of Saturn, with its large and colorful system of rings that form an orbiting disk. But in fact, several other planets in our Solar System have rings. It's just that, unlike Saturn, their systems are less visible, and perhaps less beautiful to behold. The planets of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune all have ring systems – all of the gas giants in our Solar System. And that's not all! In fact, ring systems may be more common than previously thought… In was not until 1979 that the rings of Jupiter were discovered when the Voyager 1 space probe conducted a flyby of the planet. They were also thoroughly investigated in the 1990s by the Galileo orbiter. Because it is composed mainly of dust, the ring system is faint and can only be observed by the most powerful telescopes, or up-close by orbital spacecraft. However, during the past twenty-three years, it has been observed from Earth numerous times, as well as by the Hubble Space Telescope.

The ring system has four main components: a thick inner torus of particles known as the "halo ring"; a relatively bright, but extremely thin "main ring"; and two wide, thick, and faint outer "gossamer rings". These outer rings are composed of material from the moons Amalthea and Thebe and are named after these moons (i.e. the "Amalthea Ring" and "Thebe Ring"). The main and halo rings consist of dust ejected from the moons Metis, Adrastea, and other unobserved parent bodies as the result of high-velocity impacts. Scientists believe that a ring could even exist around the moon of Himalia's orbit, which could have been created when another small moon crashed into it and caused material to be ejected from the surface. A schema of Jupiter’s ring system showing the four main components. Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell University The rings of Saturn, meanwhile, have been known for centuries. Although Galileo Galilei became the first person to observe the rings of Saturn in 1610, he did not have a powerful enough telescope to discern their true nature.

It was not until 1655 that Christiaan Huygens, the Dutch mathematician and scientist, became the first person to describe them as a disk surrounding the planet. Subsequent observations, which included spectroscopic studies by the late 19th century, confirmed that they are composed of smaller rings, each one made up of tiny particles orbiting Saturn. These particles range in size from micrometers to meters that form clumps orbiting the planet, and which are composed almost entirely of water ice contaminated with dust and chemicals. In total, Saturn has a system of 12 rings with 2 divisions. It has the most extensive ring system of any planet in our solar system . The rings have numerous gaps where particle density drops sharply. In some cases, this due to Saturn's Moons being embedded within them, which causes destabilizing orbital resonances to occur. However, within the Titan Ringlet and the G Ring, orbital resonance with Saturn's moons has a stabilizing influence. Well beyond the main rings is the Phoebe ring, which is tilted at an angle of 27 degrees to the other rings and, like Phoebe, orbits in retrograde fashion.

The rings of Uranus are thought to be relatively young, at not more than 600 million years old. They are believed to have originated from the collisional fragmentation of a number of moons that once existed around the planet. After colliding, the moons probably broke up into numerous particles, which survived as narrow and optically dense rings only in strictly confined zones of maximum stability. Uranus has 13 rings that have been observed so far. They are all very faint, the majority being opaque and only a few kilometers wide. The ring system consists mostly of large bodies 0.2 to 20 m in diameter. A few rings are optically thin and are made of small dust particles which makes them difficult to observe using Earth-based telescopes. Saturn and its rings, as seen from above the planet by the Cassini spacecraft. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute/Gordan Ugarkovic The rings of Neptune were not discovered until 1989 until the Voyager 2 space probe conducted a flyby of the planet. Six rings have been observed in the system, which are best described as faint and tenuous.

The rings are very dark, and are likely composed by organic compounds processed by radiation, similar to that found in the rings of Uranus. Much like Uranus, and Saturn, four of Neptune's moons orbit within the ring system. In addition, the minor planet of Chariklo – an asteroid that orbits the Sun between Saturn and Uranus – also has two rings that orbit it. These are perhaps due to a collision that caused a chain of debris to form in orbit around it. The announcement of these rings was made on March 26th of 2014, and was based on observations made during a stellar occultation on June 3rd, 2013. Back in 2008, it was suggested that the magnetic effects around the Saturnian moon of Rhea may indicate that it has its own ring system. However, a subsequent study indicated that observations obtained the Cassini mission suggested that some other mechanism was responsible for the magnetic effects. The labeled ring arcs of Neptune as seen in newly processed data. Credit: M.

Showalter/SETI Institute Pluto is not known to have any ring systems, but some astronomers think that the New Horizons probe might find a ring system when it visits in 2015. In short, four planets in our Solar System have intricate ring systems, as well as the minor planet Chariklo and possibly even Pluto. In this sense, ring systems appear to be a lot more common in our Solar System than previously thought. The Solar System – Planets in Our Solar System Pictures & Facts – PlanetFacts.org The Moon The Solar System Our Solar System includes the Sun and the planetary system revolving around it. A “planetary system” is a group of non-stellar objects (planets, dwarf planets, moons, asteroids, meteoroids, comets and cosmic dust) that orbit around a star, the sun is classified as a star. The Solar System includes four terrestrial planets (composed of rock and metal) and four gas giants (gaseous material). The four terrestrial planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, and the four gas giants are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. These names are derived from Roman gods and goddesses. So how many planets have we mentioned? Eight!

Just checking if you are still awake. Scientists believe that the Solar System was formed billions of years ago through the gravitational collapse of a cluster of gas and dust particles in space. The Sun is said to have been formed out of the mass in the center, and the these materials slowly formed the other non-stellar objects; planets, moons, and asteroids. The Solar System is an enigma, with man’s quest to learn more, astronomers and scientist continually learn something new about the vastness of space. As technology improves, so we learn more about our Solar System. It is said that the Sun is halfway in the cycle that began at its birth and ending with its final expansion and collapse as a red giant (the 10 billionth year mark of its life). An event you don’t want to be around for. Not Just Planets The Solar System includes the planets’ satellites (moons), comets, asteroids, and meteoroids. Located between Mars and Jupiter is a small asteroid belt. Even though there are only eight planets, our Solar System actually contains hundreds of star systems. Some of the moons in our Solar System are larger than the planet Mercury!

Two of the moons of Jupiter have interesting characteristics; Io has active volcanoes, Europa has a thick liquid water ocean layer, though covered by thick crusts of solid ice. Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, has lakes, rivers, and oceans of liquid Methane! Beyond Neptune’s orbital path lie trans-Neptunian formations made of ice water, ammonia, and methane. Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris rotate using their own gravity like the other planets, however, for this reason, the scientific community has called these “dwarf planets.” Atmospheres, Rings, Magnetic fields Nearly every planet, and some moons, is shrouded with atmospheric gases. Take Venus for example, it has a thick atmosphere of carbon dioxide and other toxic gases. Earth’s atmosphere consists of mostly nitrogen and oxygen. Mars’ atmosphere is also has a thin layer of carbon dioxide. The gas giants contain hydrogen and helium in their atmospheres. From the 17th century to the 1970s, astronomers believed that only Saturn had an outer ring. With the advent of modern telescopes, scientists have observed rings on the other planets, Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune.

Although these planets’ rings are not as prominent as Saturn’s. What are seen as planetary rings are actually clusters of various particles that include dust, asteroids & boulders, they range in size from tiny specks to some that are big as your house! Planets and stars in the Solar System have magnetic fields, the charged particles surround most of these celestial bodies. The sun has a magnetic field of its own called the heliosphere, this emanates throughout the Solar System. The Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It consists of hot lava and a strong magnetic field. The energy it produces can be likened to hydrogen nuclear fusion reactions at its core. The Sun mass is estimated at 99.86% of the in Solar System, the rest belongs to Jupiter. The Sun consists of 70% hydrogen, 28% helium, and 2% of the remaining consists of carbon, oxygen, iron, neon, and other elements. By classification the Sun is a yellow dwarf. It is about the top 10th percentile in mass among all stars. It has a surface temperature of about 5505°C (9941°F).

The corona of the Sun is constantly expanding, thus producing a solar wind (charged particle stream that is emitted from the Sun’s upper atmosphere). The solar wind is responsible for creating the heliosphere, which is a large bubble that expands into the outer area of the Solar System known as the interstellar medium. Phenomena such as geomagnetic storms can disrupt Earth’s power grid, Northern Lights, as well as comet plasma tails which are always aligned away from the Sun. The Sun is often represented in ancient cultures, more often than not, as a deity or god. The ancient Egyptians called it as the god Ra, the Greeks as Helios, and the Romans as Sol. The Planets Mercury Mercury is the smallest and closest planet to the Sun. Mercury has no moons and has no special features other than impact craters and lobed ridges. Mercury’s thin atmosphere consists of particles blasted off by the solar wind from the Sun. It has a large iron core and a thin mantle layer, possibly constant impacts which prevent its layers from developing over time. Venus The second planet is slightly smaller than Earth. It has a dense atmosphere and an iron core.

It is the hottest planet with blistering surface temperatures (upwards of 400°C/752°F). Venus’ atmosphere is toxic due to clouds of sulfuric acid. The planet may have had water at one point, but these have evaporated over time due to the extreme heat. Volcanic activity have been observed on Venus’ surfaces, though there have been no signs of lava flow. Earth Earth is the largest of the inner planets. It is the only place in the universe where life exists. It has one moon. Earth’s core is very active, and it is the only planet with tectonic plates. Earth’s biosphere has long since altered its atmosphere, creating more oxygen as well as an ozone layer to block harmful radiation from space. Mars This is the second largest planet and the fourth from the Sun. Mars has a carbon dioxide atmosphere. It has two moons: Deimos and Phobos. These are said to be captured asteroids. Its reddish color is due to the large amounts of iron-oxide on its surface. Its atmosphere is very thin and its surface is riddled with impact craters, like that of the Moon’s.

Jupiter Jupiter the size is massive, consider 318 times the Earth size. It is the largest planet in the Solar System with 2.5 times the mass of all the other planets combined. It is composed of mostly hydrogen and helium. Jupiter has 67 known moons or satellites. Jupiter has a rapid rotation which has caused it to bulge slightly around its equator. The atmosphere of Jupiter creates lots of storms on its surface, the prominent result of which is the Great Red Spot, which is actually a continuous storm which has endured since the 17th century (when it was first observed by telescope). Saturn This planet is just beyond Jupiter and is known for its ring, which actually consists of 9 bands of rings. Saturn is 60% the volume of Jupiter and has the lowest density of all the planets. It has 62 satellites, including Titan and Enceladus. Saturn’s core consists of iron, nickel, silicon, and oxygen compounds, all surrounded by a thick layer of metallic hydrogen. The planetary magnetic field on Saturn has contributed to an electric current through the metallic hydrogen layer. Uranus Uranus is unique in that it orbits the sun on its side because of its axial tilt.

Uranus has 27 known moons, including Titania, Oberon, Umbriel, Ariel, and Miranda. While Uranus is similar to Jupiter and Saturn in that its atmosphere contains hydrogen and helium, it also contains copious amounts of ice water, ammonia, and methane. Furthermore, it has the coldest atmosphere in the Solar System at -224°C/-435°F. Uranus and Neptune are also known as “ice giants.” Neptune Neptune is smaller than Uranus but is denser. Neptune has 13 known satellites, including Triton. Neptune’s surface gravity is only surpassed by Jupiter, and the two are the only planets with greater surface than Earth’s. Neptune contains ice compounds like those of Saturn’s as well as greater concentrations of volatile elements similar to those found on Jupiter and Saturn. Pluto Pluto used to be considered a planet in the sense that Mercury or Jupiter are. However, it is now considered a dwarf planet because it lacks characteristics that define the planets in the Solar System. it is ok!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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lol fricken hate college Amazed Nice presentation of the awesome solar system we live in. Amazing design. Some say it all happened by chance over a long long time. So things don’t need a designer. Which do you say: are you made for a purpose – or are you a product of time plus chance. CutieCupCakes lov u do u lov me jk i like this site talisa this website is really good mater fact great it really helpful and i am in ninth grade HubbleSite - Reference Desk - FAQs Reference Desk Frequently Asked Questions What is the solar system? The solar system consists of a central star, the Sun, and all of the smaller celestial bodies that continuously travel around it. The smaller bodies include eight planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, which are themselves orbited by more than 140 moons. (Only Mercury and Venus have no moons.) In addition, the solar system contains millions of rocky asteroids and billions of icy comets. All of these objects are held together in a group by the Sun's gravity. How did the solar system form?

The planets, asteroids and comets in the solar system are loose objects left over from the formation of the Sun. Originally the gas and dust that would become the Sun was the core of a cloud much larger than the solar system, probably several light-years across. (One light-year is equal to approximately 6,000,000,000,000 miles.) The core was slowly rotating at first, but as it collapsed it spun faster, like a spinning ice-skater pulling in his arms. The rotation prevented the material at the core's equator from collapsing as fast as material at the poles, so the core became a spinning disk. Gas and dust in the disc spiraled gradually in to the center, where it accumulated to form the Sun. But because dust is denser than gas, some of the dust settled to the mid-plane of the disc. These dust particles stuck together to make clumps, then clumps stuck together to make rocks, then rocks collided to make planets. In the case of the "gas giant" planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, the rocky cores were massive enough to also attract some of the gas. The outer layers of these planets are made up of hydrogen and other gases.

So the Sun is the collapsed core of an interstellar gas cloud, and the planets, asteroids and comets are small lumps of dust or ice chunks which stayed in orbit instead of spiraling into the Sun. The planets all formed within a very short period, probably a few million years, about five billion years ago. How old is the solar system? The solar system is about 4.6 billion years old. How big is the solar system? There are no physical boundaries in space. The solar system consists of eight planets orbiting around one star: the Sun. Neptune, the farthest planet from the Sun, orbits approximately 30astronomical units from the Sun. An astronomical unit is a unit of length used by astronomers. One astronomical unit equals the distance from Earth to the Sun: 93 million miles (149 million km). Some of the comets associated with the solar system travel on orbits that take them much farther from the Sun than Neptune. How many planets are there in our solar system? Our solar system officially has eight planets and one star: the Sun. In order from the Sun out, the planets are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

The discovery of an object larger than Pluto in 2005 rekindled the debate over whether such objects, belonging to the "Kuiper Belt" – a collection of icy bodies located beyond Neptune – should be called planets. Pluto and other large members of the Kuiper Belt are now considered "dwarf planets." Can you see any planets with the "naked eye?" Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn can be seen with the unaided eye. That is how they were discovered by ancient civilizations. Uranus and Neptune were discovered using telescopes. Are there differences among the planets in our solar system? Planets come in different sizes, compositions and colors. The four planets closer to the Sun are called "rocky" planets. They are small in size and similar to Earth in composition. They have no rings and only two of them (Earth and Mars) have moons. The four outer planets, also called "gas giants," are much larger than the rocky planets. They all have rings and have many moons. The gas giants are made up mostly of hydrogen, helium, frozen water, ammonia, methane and carbon monoxide. Which planets are called the "rocky" or "terrestrial" planets?

Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are called "rocky" or "terrestrial" planets. They are similar to Earth in composition. Heat from the Sun evaporated lightweight elements like hydrogen and helium into interplanetary space. Mostly rock and metal was left in this zone and clumped together to form the inner rocky planets. Which planets are called the "gaseous" planets? Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are called the "gaseous" planets. Jupiter and Saturn contain the largest percentages of hydrogen and helium, while Uranus and Neptune contain the largest shares of ices – frozen water, ammonia, methane and carbon monoxide. Which planets have rings? The four gas giants, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, have rings. How thick are Saturn's rings? The Hubble telescope has captured snapshots of Saturn with its rings nearly edge-on to our view. Read more about it . Saturn's rings are incredibly thin. The main rings are generally only about 30 feet (10 meters) thick, though parts of the main and other rings can be several kilometers thick.

The rings are made of dusty ice, in the form of boulder-sized and smaller chunks that gently collide with each other as they orbit around Saturn. Saturn's gravitational field constantly disrupts these ice chunks, keeping them spread out and preventing them from combining to form a moon. The rings have a slight pale reddish color due to the presence of organic material mixed with the water ice. Find out more from HubbleSite: Hubble discoveries about Saturn in NewsCenter . How close do Earth and Mars get? Mars and Earth are like two cars on a racetrack as they journey around the Sun. Earth is on the inside track and travels faster than Mars, which is on the outside. When Earth laps Mars about every two years, it comes as close as 35 million miles (56 million km) or as far away as 63 million miles (101 million km) because of Mars’ highly elongated orbit. What is a comet? Comets are small, fragile, irregularly shaped bodies composed mostly of a mixture of water ice (ice composed of H20), dust, and carbon- and silicon-based compounds. They have highly elliptical orbits that repeatedly bring them very close to the Sun and then swing them into space.

Comets have three distinct parts: a nucleus, a coma and a tail. The solid core is called the nucleus, which develops a coma with one or more tails when a comet sweeps close to the Sun. The coma is the dusty, fuzzy cloud around the nucleus of a comet, and the tail extends from the comet and points away from the Sun. The coma and tails of a comet appear only when the comet is near the Sun. Find out more from HubbleSite: Hubble discoveries about comets from NewsCenter . How did comets form? Comets are some of the material left over from the formation of the planets. Our entire solar system, including comets, was created by the collapse of a giant, diffuse cloud of gas and dust about 4.6 billion years ago. Much of the matter merged into planets, but some remained to form small lumps of frozen gas and dust in the outer region of the solar system, where temperatures were cold enough to produce ice. Find out more from HubbleSite: Hubble discoveries about comets from NewsCenter . Why do comets have tails? Comets are lumps of frozen water ice, gas and dust. As a comet approaches the Sun, it starts to heat up.

The ice transforms directly from a solid to a vapor, releasing the dust particles embedded inside. Sunlight and the stream of charged particles flowing from the Sun – the solar wind – sweeps the evaporated material and dust back in a long tail. The comet's ingredients determine the types and number of tails. What are the types of comet tails? There are two types of comet tails: dust and gas ion. A dust tail contains small, solid particles that are about the same size found in cigarette smoke. This tail forms because sunlight pushes on these small particles, gently shoving them away from the comet’s nucleus. Because the pressure from sunlight is relatively weak, the dust particles end up forming a diffuse, curved tail. A gas ion tail forms when ultraviolet sunlight rips one or more electrons from gas atoms in the coma, making them into ions (a process called ionization). The solar wind then carries these ions straight outward away from the Sun. The resulting tail is straighter and narrower. Both types of tails may extend millions of kilometers into space. As a comet heads away from the Sun, its tail dissipates, its coma disappears, and the matter contained in its nucleus freezes into a rock-like material. Where do comets come from?

Comets are found in two main regions of the solar system: the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud. There are two types of comets: short-period comets and long-period comets. Short-period comets – comets that frequently return to the inner solar system – probably come from the Kuiper Belt beyond the orbit of Neptune. Astronomers estimate that this belt contains at least 200 million objects, which are thought to have remained essentially unchanged since the birth of the solar system 4.6 billion years ago. Long-period comets, which can take thousands of years to complete their orbits, are thought to emanate from the Oort Cloud, a vast group of frozen bodies in the outer part of the solar system. The Oort Cloud is thought to extend 50,000 times the distance from the Earth to the Sun. Oort Cloud comets, like their Kuiper Belt brothers, probably originated in the region of the solar system between Jupiter and Neptune, but were ejected from to the Oort Cloud by close encounters with the gravity of the giant planets.

Comets are kicked out of the Oort Cloud and the Kuiper Belt by the pull of the gravity of another object – a planet, a star, or another small body. They then begin their journey toward the inner solar system and the Sun. What path do comets follow through the solar system? Planets have nearly circular orbits, but comets have elongated paths around the Sun. A comet is at "aphelion" when its orbit is farthest from the Sun. It is at "perihelion" when it is closest to the Sun. Due to angular momentum, a comet will travel fastest at perihelion and will slow down as it approaches aphelion. Comets can be classified by their orbital period: that is, the time it takes them to make one complete trip around the Sun. Comets with short and intermediate orbital periods of less than 200 years – like Comet Halley, whose orbital period is 76 years – spend most of their time between Pluto and the Sun. These comets originally formed in the Kuiper Belt, but a gravitational "push" from the planets, especially Jupiter, swung them closer to the Sun.

A long-period comet will have an orbital period of more than 200 years. Comet Hale-Bopp, for example, completes an orbit about every 4,000 years. Scientists think that this type of comet spends most of its time way out in the Oort Cloud at the farthest edge of our solar system. What is the difference between a meteor, a meteoroid, a meteorite, an asteroid and a comet? Most of us probably have seen meteors or shooting stars. A meteor is the flash of light that we see in the night sky when a small chunk of interplanetary debris burns up as it passes through our atmosphere. "Meteor" refers to the flash of light caused by the debris, not the debris itself. The debris is called a meteoroid. A meteoroid is a piece of interplanetary matter that is smaller than a kilometer and frequently only millimeters in size. Most meteoroids that enter the Earth's atmosphere are so small that they vaporize completely and never reach the planet's surface. If any part of a meteoroid survives the fall through the atmosphere and lands on Earth, it is called a meteorite.

Although the vast majority of meteorites are very small, their size can range from about a fraction of a gram (the size of a pebble) to 100 kilograms (220 lbs) or more (the size of a huge, life-destroying boulder). Asteroids are generally larger chunks of rock that come from the asteroid belt located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Comets are asteroid-like objects covered with ice, methane, ammonia, and other compounds that develop a fuzzy, cloud-like shell called a coma and sometimes a visible tail whenever they orbit close to the Sun. Find out more from HubbleSite: Hubble discoveries about asteroids , comets , and Kuiper Belt objects from NewsCenter . What is the asteroid belt? The asteroid belt is a zone between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Scientists believe that the asteroids in the asteroid belt never formed a planet because the gravity of nearby Jupiter kept pulling them apart. Today, millions of asteroids probably inhabit the asteroid belt, with many more scattered throughout the solar system. Find out more from HubbleSite: Hubble discoveries about asteroids from NewsCenter . What is Planet X?

When astronomer Percival Lowell decided to search for a planet beyond Neptune in the 1930s, he called the object of his search "Planet X." This search led to the discovery of Pluto, but for many years some astronomers believed that another world larger than Pluto must exist undiscovered beyond Neptune. They thought this because Neptune's orbit seemed to be influenced by the gravity of an unseen planet. More recent studies indicate that Neptune's orbit is not influenced by undiscovered bodies, and that a large "Planet X" most likely does not exist. Some of the myths and misconceptions about Planet X are debunked on Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy website: The prospects for new planet discoveries in our solar system are small. However, astronomers are now finding hundreds of planets orbiting other stars. Has Hubble looked for Planet X? Astronomers are always on the lookout for new members of the solar system. The most active programs involve searches for new comets, asteroids and satellites of the outer planets, but a few scientists have undertaken an on-again, off-again search for planets beyond Neptune.

Astronomers can rule out an object as big as Jupiter orbiting a little further out than Neptune, since its gravitational effect on Neptuneï¿½s orbit would be pretty obvious. It would also be easily visible because of its brightness. To go undetected, a planet similar in size and composition to the other outer planets would have to be very far from the Sun. We do know of many other objects orbiting the Sun that are similar to Pluto, which belongs to the Kuiper Belt – a field of icy, comet-like bodies located beyond Neptune. In 2005, an object likely larger than Pluto, named Eris, was located in the Kuiper Belt. Find out more on HubbleSite: How many planets have rings? | Reference.com How many planets have rings? A: Quick Answer There are four planets within the Solar System that have rings. All of the outer planets, often called "gas giants," have a system of rings. Full Answer Planetary rings are made up of small particles of ice and dust that are formed from comets and asteroids as well as moons that have disintegrated. The rings of Saturn are the largest and most well known, and they are the only planetary rings that can be seen from Earth.

The rings of Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune were discovered by the Voyager space probes and are much too faint to be seen with telescopes from Earth. How many planets in the solar system have rings around them? | Reference.com How many planets in the solar system have rings around them? A: Quick Answer There are four planets in the solar system that have rings around them, namely Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. These planets are classified as "jovian" planets, and they are massive balls of gas surrounded by rings and moons. The rings surrounding these gas giants consists of tiny fragments of ice and rock that orbit each planet as if they were miniature moons.

Question: How many planets are in our solar system have rings?
Answer: Four